We swooned over this Indian-Spiced Slow Cooker Red Lentil Soup with Spinach and Coconut Milk! And this vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free soup with Indian flavors is also low-glycemic and good for the South Beach Diet Phase One if you use portion control. Use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

I know some of you are going to take one look this Indian-Spiced Slow Cooker Red Lentil Soup with Spinach and Coconut Milk and veto it because you think the Indian spices, the red lentils, or the spinach is just not going to appeal to you. But that would be truly sad, because the entire time we were making this easy slow cooker soup, Jake and I just couldn’t stop tasting it and remarking on how good it was!Admittedly Jake is an Indian food lover, and I’m a fanatic for red lentils, but still we’re pretty picky about what we consider to be “blog-worthy” and this delicious soup more than made the cut. I loved it with a generous squeeze of lime.

The soup was adapted from a recipe for yellow split pea dal I saw in a fun little book called 50 Simple Soups for the Slow Cooker, but truthfully I changed it up quite a bit in my version. What I didn’t change is the fact that this delicious soup is vegan, making it a perfect choice for a meatless dinner idea. The soup is also Phase One for the South Beach Diet as long as you have a moderate serving size.

Heat olive oil, then saute the onions until they’re slightly brown. Add minced garlic, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, Garam Masala, and ground cinnamon and cook 1-2 minutes more. Put the spiced onions in the slow cooker. These are the red lentils I love so much for soup. Pick them over and discard anyone discolored ones and rinse with cold water before you add them to the slow cooker. (The soup called for 1 cup of lentils, but Jake and I agreed that next time we’d use 1 1/2 cups for a slightly thicker soup.)

We used canned vegetable broth and added enough water to make 4 cups. Add the lentils and vegetable broth to the slow cooker with the onions and spices and cook on high for about 2 hours or on low for about 4 hours. After 2 hours, the ground turmeric had given the lentils a beautiful yellow color and they were starting to dissolve into the soup.

Turn the slow cooker to low and add the coconut milk and chopped spinach and cook about 30 minutes more. Season the soup generously with salt and fresh ground black pepper and serve hot.

Pick over the lentils and remove any discolored ones. Put lentils in a colander and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear.

Add lentils and vegetable stock to the slow cooker and cook on high for about 2 hours or on low for about 4 hours. (The lentils should be softened and starting to fall apart when you add the other ingredients.)

Turn slow cooker to low and add the chopped spinach and can of coconut milk. Cook about 30 minutes more, or until lentils and spinach are done to your liking.

Season with a generous amount of salt and fresh ground black pepper (to taste) and serve hot. with Greek Yogurt or sliced lime to add at the table if desired.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
All types of low-glycemic lentils and split peas are approved for the South Beach Diet, but serving size is limited. In a soup recipe like this with lots of other ingredients you can eat a moderate size serving for Phase One. Lentils may be high in carbs for other low-carb eating plans, although you can reduce the carbs-per-serving in a soup like this by using less lentils and more spinach.

Nutritional Information?
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Great minds think alike! I made something very similar last Sunday (although not in a slow cooker) – and it was stupendously delicious! Lots of cumin for warmth – definitely going on permanent winter dinner rotation!

Kaylen…This was fantastic. My husband and I really loved it. I used up my red lentils (which I had bought for another recipe). What is the difference between red and green lentils? What I have in my cupboard now are lots of green lentils….

The soup looks delicious and beautiful! I have a ton of red lentils sitting around, and now I know precisely what I need to do with them! I know this is for meatless Monday meal, but suppose I wanted this to be a complete meal with chicken; could I add a chicken breast or two to this?

All I can say is SupercalafragalisticExpaladelicious. I am a devout carnivore and hunter of wildgame. My wife and I decided that we would go vegan for a while (well she decided)… I was assigned the responsibility of cooking and wasn't too sure this thing was going to work for me. I love soups (especially with Grilled Cheese) … I digress. When it was time to taste it I found myself immersed face deep with a ladle as my spoon. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this recipe.

Searching for lentil recipes for a half marathon tomorrow. I've tried several Indian recipes and I can't seem to get the spices right, something is missing or there's a bitterness, but this was perfect! I just had some for lunch, gave your link to a facebook recipe group, and had to how amazing this was. Thank You!

I haven't made this without a slow cooker, so I can't tell you an exact recipe to adapt it. But in general, use more liquid for stovetop cooking, and simmering time will be about 1/3 as long. I would add the ingredients in the same order for cooking on the stove. You'll just have to watch it to see how long to cook the lentils before you add the spinach and coconut milk.

I was skeptical, couldn't imagine how this would taste with the combination of spices, but wow was it great! Thanks for posting a great non meat protein rich meal! Green too, just in time for st Patrick's day!

I just made this today, and it is soooo gooooood!!! It doesn’t need anything added to it; it’s so yummy just the way the recipe says (although I did add 1/2 cup more lentils just to use up my package, and some extra broth as well, but otherwise, I followed the recipe). I made some homemade naan with avocado hummus to go with it, and my husband and 14 month old both loved it! Thank you for such an amazing recipe!